1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a replaceable toner cartridge having a memory, a developing cartridge, a developing device, and an image forming apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
General image forming apparatuses such as, e.g., printers, copy machines, fax machines, or multifunctional peripherals print images on printing media using a quantity of toner.
The more pages are printed, the more toner is consumed, and thus the toner needs to be periodically replenished. The toner may be accommodated in a developing cartridge removably installed in the body of the image forming apparatus, together with other components, e.g., a developing roller and/or a supply roller.
To replenishing toner, when the entire developing cartridge is replaced, not only the toner, but also other components, such as, e.g., the developing roller and/or supply roller are also replaced, causing the cost of operational and/or maintenance cost of the image forming apparatus to increase.
The developing cartridge may include a memory such as, e.g., a customer replaceable unit monitor (CRUM), that stores information that can be used to determine, for example, whether the developing cartridge is mounted, the amount of toner remaining, and/or other printing related information.
As various internal components and the driving mechanism to drive these internal components are also disposed in or about the developing cartridge, the placement of the memory device, e.g., a CRUM, at a location that does not contribute greatly to the overall size of the developing cartridge and/or the image forming apparatus, and that also allows the memory device to transmit and/or receive signals to and/or from the image forming apparatus, is desirable.